Abstract
Recently, with the rapid development of information and communication technologies, alternative solutions have emerged to respond to changing user requirements. The most important of these are digital media and technologies that allow users to share with each other and create media content within individuals or groups. These platforms, called social media, offer a technological infrastructure where sharing and discussion are principle concepts. Social media can provide not only increase in communication, but also it allows customers to take an active role in creating value in business. This means that social media have changed the way companies innovate with individuals. The purpose of the research is to reveal how social media is used for product development in the context of one of the most used technique by open systems called co-creation approach. This chapter can be considered as a model designed to demonstrate the use of social media's power.
TopBackground
The term social media includes online tools and websites that enable users to interact with each other by sharing their knowledge, views and interests (Ozel, 2014). According to Social Networking and Media Association, social media refers to the effective use of Web 2.0 tools to provide a more participatory Web environment. Besides that, social media is mainly focused on the concept of user-generated content (UGC). It also includes the ability of people to share, comment, discuss and even evaluate. Innovations such as corporate and personal blogs, social networks, wikis, photo and video sharing sites, forums and newsgroups, virtual worlds, social bookmarking are technologies in the social media category (Grutzmacher, 2011).
Asur and Hubermann (2010) showed in their work that social media, thanks to its ease of use, accessibility and speed, can change the social agenda and bring new trends to light. Kaplan and Heinlein (2010) believed that social media has become more preferable because of the lower cost and greater impact compared to the traditional media. Mayfield (2008) asserts that social media shares most of the features of participation, openness, conversation, community and connectedness. Taprial and Kanwar (2012) characterize five properties that distinguish social media from traditional media. They are accessibility, speed, interactivity, longevity and reach. Chen (2014) presents additional characteristics of social media which include speed and accessibility as well.
Contrary to popular belief, social media does not consist of only social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin but it also includes applications enabling collaborative projects, blogs & microblogs, content communities, virtual social or game worlds. In other words, social media applications are beyond the social networking sites and cover a broad range of tools and platforms (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Co-Innovation: Also called coupled open innovation. Involves two (or more) partners that purposively manage mutual knowledge flows across their organizational boundaries through joint invention and commercialization activities.
New Product Development Process (NPD): Obtain new products.
Co-Design: The collaborative design of new product.
Virtual Platforms: Simulations of specific design. A software-based system that can fully mirror the functionality of a target system-on-chip or board.
Product Design: The process of efficient and effective idea generation and development with the goal of creating new products.
Consumer Participation: Community or individual involvement in the decision-making process.
Co-Creation: The collaborative development of new value (concepts, solutions, products, and services) together with experts and/or stakeholders (such as customers, suppliers, etc.). A form of collaborative innovation: ideas are shared and improved together, rather than kept to oneself.